Radiation
by zoey04
Summary: The ex-Gundam pilots are called in to investigate an explosion at the nuclear weapons manufacturing plant.  But one of them finds himself in deep trouble after accidentally inhaling the toxic radiation. yaoi. 1X2. please r
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so I started this a long time ago, but just kind of stopped writing it. And when I just went back through all my unfinished stuff, I realized that I had literally like two pages left... so I finished it XD It's not very long and I don't like the ending at all but oh well... Enjoy XD**

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Chapter 1

It shook the entire Preventers base. The sound echoed down the hill from the north. Damn. The nuclear weapons manufacturing plant a few miles north finally managed to blow themselves up. Heero pulled the five small air regulators off their shelves in our shared office and distributed them quickly, just incase it was a large enough explosion to reach us.

That next minute the air conditioner shut down, ventilation closed off, and metal, air tight barriers slid down over the windows. The lights flicked off, then were replaced by infrared lights to help keep the air radiation free. Emergency ventilation systems booted up, giving us clean and safe oxygen from the emergency air supplies.

"Preventers is now in lockdown. Please remain where you are and await further instructions. Repeat, Preventers is now in lockdown," the loudspeaker announced, like we didn't already realize that.

"Damn. Must've been pretty bad. Une is going to ask us to check it out," I told Heero, my voice slightly muffled by the regulator as I reclined back in my chair.

"Why you two?" WuFei asked.

"Because we're awesome," I mocked, giving him an 'of course, why else?' look.

He narrowed his black eyes, the red lights reflective off of them and making me shudder.

"When exactly do you think she's going to send us? If it was one of their nukes, then that small area would be uninhabitable for a while," Heero pointed out, ignoring Fei and plopping down into his desk across from mine. He tried to boot up his computer, but for some unknown reasons, the systems were down. "Kuso," he cursed into his regulator.

"Yuy, Maxwell, my office. Now," Une's voice echoed in the loud speaker.

"Told you," I grinned, at both Heero and Fei.

WuFei glared as I followed Heero out of our office, clearly disappointed that he wasn't chosen to run the investigation. I think it wasn't the investigation, but not getting locked in the office for some unknown hours that made him want to go.

Une was sitting at her desk, a bored expression plastered to her face. She absentmindedly picked at one of the elastic straps holding her regulator to her face, her elbow on the desk and her cheek resting on her fist. A voice was blabbering on through her speakerphone, a voice I recognized as the owner and manager of the plant. So Heero was wrong about it being a nuke. It must've been a normal explosive, because anything nuclear would have wiped out the entire plant and everyone in or near it.

"My two best agents are here now, Mr. Carter," Une told him, her voice muffled.

"Just two? I though all of the five Gundam pilots worked there," his voice echoed. It sounded like he too was wearing a mask, this one sounding much more high powered than our little regulators.

"You want me to send out all five of them just to investigate an accident at your plant?" Une clarified, still bored.

"I don't think it was an accident. It doesn't seem like it was, anyway," he answered.

Une was immediately more alert. "Someone purposefully set of a nuclear explosion in the middle of a nuclear weapons manufacturing plant? Who is that stupid?"

"That's what I think ma'am. And I don't think anyone is that stupid. It must've been placed strategically, because you are right. If a nuclear bomb detonated anywhere near the other bombs, everything within a fifty mile radius would have been flattened instantly," he responded.

"We'll check it out," I volunteered.

"Who is that?" Mr. Carter asked.

"Colonel Duo Maxwell. Colonel Heero Yuy is also here," Une answered.

"I want all of your best men, General Une. This could get ugly quick if anymore bombs went off."

"Fine." She pressed a button and announced into the speakerphone, "Barton, Winner, WuFei. My office."

"Yes, ma'am," Trowa responded.

"The five of you have a new assignment," Une told us as the other three filed in. "I want this top priority. You are to investigate the explosion at the plant. There is a possible threat of another attack. I want all of you at that base five minutes ago looking for anything that might suggest another attack."

We all nodded and she tossed Heero the keys to the jeep. We headed to the locker rooms, pulling on our uniforms and safety suits and weapons of choice. I slung my Colt m16a4 onto my back and shoved my service pistol into my belt. Down in the garage, Heero slid into the driver's seat and I jumped into the passenger's seat before WuFei could. Trowa reached into the back and grabbed five high powered gas masks. We held our breaths as we exchanged the wimpy regulators for the heavy masks. These masks had a vacuum fit and a button that had to be pressed in order to speak. I guess it was better that than radiation poisoning. The metal doors slammed shut and then the garage doors opened, letting the potentially toxic air flood the garage. The ride up the hill was bumpy and silent, except for the sounds of rifles being loaded.

The jeep was enveloped by fog as we reached the base, but it wasn't fog, I realized. It was dust, debris, chemicals. We all unconsciously checked our masks to make sure they were secure as Heero slowed the jeep to avoid crashing. The manager suddenly appeared in the gloom wearing a gas mask of his own. He was armed with a fully automatic rifle and I could see the hand gun bulging in the pocket of his safety suit.

Heero parked the jeep in front of the base that had suddenly appeared out of the fog and we stepped out and into the toxic air.

Heero pressed the button on his mask and demanded, "Take us to your bomb storage first." His voice sounded slightly electronic coming out of the mask.

Mr. Carter nodded and led us through the fog and debris into the intact area of the plant. This side of the plant hadn't been touched by the explosion. Whoever had set off the bomb had placed it out of harms way of the other nukes. Their intentions obviously were to scare us and not destroy the base and anything within fifty miles of it. At least not yet.

"You three go check out the blast zone. Duo, come with me down to the storage lockers," Heero commanded.

I nodded and an employee led the others down the hall. We followed Mr. Carter down five floors to the storage locker hidden underground. Even down here, the air was dusty and visibility was poor.

We approached a large steel door with many high tech locks on it. Mr. Carter used his body to hide the key pad as he punched in the access code and disengaged the locks. The thick, heavy door clicked, then creaked open, letting in the toxic air.

Heero stepped in and immediately started to look around for anything out of place. The room was amazing. Along the back wall were three, ten foot tall missile looking bombs carefully supported by complicated stands. Along the right wall were fifteen, four foot missile also in intricate stands. On the opposite wall were other bombs of different shapes and sizes. And in the middle of the room, was a humongous nuke in the process of being constructed. Wires hung out everywhere, metal supports stuck out of the open top, scaffoldings encircled it, and metal plates and parts were strewn all over the ground. There were several computers hooked up to the nuke and just off to the side. It looked only about half done and it was already pushing ten feet tall.

"You construct your nukes in the same room as all your finished ones? That seems… stupid," I pointed out, my voice sounding funny due to the mask. I walked over to the missile, checking it out.

"We only construct the body here. Once it's finished, we take the shell over to the blast chamber before making it deadly," he reassured.

"Why not just construct the entire thing in the bunker?" I asked, joining Heero in his investigation.

"Because we only have one and it's used often. We run many test during the time it takes to construct a monster like this."

"Where is your blast chamber?" I asked, more investigation oriented than the other questions.

"We wanted it as far away from this room as possible, so it's in the northwest corridor, top floor. Well, ground level. Having a blast chamber on the third floor wouldn't be very smart."

"Where did the explosion take place?" I asked for clarification.

"Up near the northwest wing," he answered with a frown.

I pulled my radio off of my belt and pressed its button and the mask's button as I asked, "Hey Trowa. Where is the exact origin of the explosion?"

I released both buttons, waiting for his response.

"Um, just outside their blast chamber," he answered.

"Literally," Quatre put in. "According to the scorch marks and blast radius, it was placed just outside the door of the bunker."

"Interesting. This was clearly a warning. They didn't want the rest of these nukes going off," I pointed, putting my radio back on my belt and taking out my camera.

Heero placed markers and numbers down and I snapped a few pictures. Mr. Carter insisted that we didn't take pictures of the missile in progress for security reasons. When we finished in the locker, Mr. Carter led is back up the stairs and over to the other three. They were taking pictures of the blast zone. I turned down the adjacent hall, taking measurements and pictures and notes. My foot caught on a piece of debris and I tripped into the opposite wall. The weakened wall creaked loudly, then something above snapped and the entire hall caved in. I dove out of the way, but wasn't quite quick enough. A support bean struck me on the back of my shoulders, shredding my suit, and another hit the side of my head. I heard a definite snap and knew I had just busted my gas mask. I clamped a hand over the broken regulator, trying to keep the toxic air from getting in, but there was nothing I could do to stop the toxic air from getting into my suit.

"Duo? What happened? Are you alright? Where are you?" everyone all shouted at once.

I stood and hurried to the others. I needed to get a new mask before I ran out of air. I was already going to get some poisoning, because you can't just put on a new mask in toxic air. But just small internal amounts were easily cured with little to no side effects. Hopefully the external exposure wouldn't be too bad.

I made it through the debris and to the others. They immediately saw that I had a problem and turned to Mr. Carter.

"We don't have anymore masks or suits. I have a regulator, but that won't do much good," Mr. Carter responded, flustered.

"Give it to him. You three stay here, I'll take Duo to the hospital," Heero commanded as Mr. Carter handed me the regulator.

"I'll take him. You need to lead the investigation," Quatre offered.

"No. He's my partner. You stay and lead," Heero insisted as I switched out the heavy mask for the small regulator. "Call Une and get this cleared for me. Duo doesn't have time for me to get it cleared with her."

Quatre nodded and Heero turned and ran down the hall, me following close behind. I took short, shallow breaths as I ran back towards where Heero had left the jeep. Once at the jeep, Heero slid into the driver side and I hopped into the back seat. Heero quickly spun the car around and took off down the hill as I switched my tiny regulator for a spare mask from the back. After securing the heavy mask to my face, I heaved a deep breath, laying back across the bench.

"Are you feeling anything?" Heero asked. Did I catch a hint of concern in his usual monotone façade? I doubted it.

"I sure hope not," I scoffed. "The sooner the symptoms appear, the more severe the poisoning is. If I started getting symptoms now, then I'd be dead before we even reached the hospital. Since when did you care anyway?" I asked back. I couldn't name that feeling that was growing in the pit of my stomach due to Heero's slight concern. Hopefulness? Was I hopeful that the unemotional pilot cared about me?

"You are my partner. I need to know if you are well enough to work with," he rattled off excuses, a little too quickly.

"Sure, sure," I brushed it off, wanting the flustering feeling to go away.

It was silent then except for the sounds of the masks' high power regulators filtering the air and the jeep four wheeling it down the mountain. I concentrated on breathing deeply, forcing air down into my lungs, then back out.

We had to stop at Preventers and get a clean car before driving out into the city. Leaving the jeep outside, we went through a series of sanitizing chambers before we were permitted inside the garage. We grabbed a new truck and I a new suit, then continued out to the hospital.

"You still okay?" Heero asked me, pulling into the hospital and ripping off his mask and suit.

I pulled off mine and responded, "Yup. For now anyway. Well I kinda got a headache, but a building _did_ just fall on me…"

"Can I help you two?" a nurse asked as we walked into the E.R.

"He has radiation poisoning," Heero told her.

"How severe?" she asked, leading us down the hall.

I shrugged.

"Well how long have you been exposed? Try and be precise."

"Umm… about forty five minutes? Give or take a few minutes," I answered, rubbing the back of my neck.

She nodded and led us into a room. She pulled a gown out of a drawer and tossed it to me. I caught it clumsily and she left to go set up a blood test. I pulled off my shirt and my shoulders screamed at me. I unbuttoned my pants, then remembered Heero's presence. He was just standing there, watching me. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You don't need to be here," I pointed out.

"Oh, uh, right. I'll be outside," he blushed, then hurried out the door.

I pulled off my pants, but kept on my boxers as I slipped on the gown. As I tied it in back, I felt suddenly very nauseous. Just as the nurse reentered the room, a cold sweat broke out on my forehead and I was suddenly diving towards the sink as I threw up my breakfast.

"Shit," the nurse cussed as she pulled out her pager.

I took a shuddering breath and rested my head on the cold counter, flipping on the faucet. Heero entered the room then and asked what was going on.

"Symptoms have already started to appear. He has very severe radiation poisoning.

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**So? Any good? I can't quite remember but I think I got this idea last year in history when we were talking about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks at the end of WWII. I think... so yeah. This one was fun to write. Too bad I didn't finish it earlier. Please review :)**

**So I have a bunch of stuff I'm working on right now. I'm just not sure how much of it is gonna get finished... There is another one that is close to being done, but I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to finishing it *has no idea how I'm supposed to end it* So hopefully my muses have returned for good and I'll get my stuff finished...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay next chapter. Sorry I didn't post this sooner... *can't remember why i didn't...* oh right. i went to duo's house *ShinigamiDeathscytheSan* But here it is now! Please enjoy :)**

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Chapter 2

"He needs to get washed right now," the nurse said as she helped me up.

I felt so weak and my legs were so shaky I could hardly stand. Heero walked over and took one of my arms and pulled it over his shoulder. He wrapped his other arm around my waist and dragged me down the hall behind the nurse. My heart sped up and my stomach fluttered, but I don't think it was from the poisoning.

The nurse ushered us into a small room with a metal tub. Heero supported my weight as the nurse filled the tub with hot water. I just hung my head, trying to fight off the nausea. She bustled about gathering bottles and sponges and brushes, then shoved a bucket in my arms just before I puked again.

"I got him from here. Thanks. You need to change your clothes too and take a shower just in case," she told Heero as she pulled off my gown, leaving me in my boxers and blushing.

Heero released me and stalked out of the room without another word. I found myself staring after him as the nurse then proceeded to slip off my boxers, deepening my blush.

"Do you think I could, um… get a male nurse?" I asked as she pulled off the rubber band to my braid and shook it out.

"No. Get in," she demanded ushering me towards the tub.

She took my bucket and placed it next to the tub as she helped me into the tub. She poured half the bottle of soap onto a sponge and started to wash my chest and arms.

"What's the point of this?" I wanted to know as scrubbed at my shoulder.

"To get the radiation particles off of your skin," she answered simply.

She made me lean forward so she could clean my back. She hesitated when she saw the wounds on my shoulders from the beams.

"Are these new?" she asked, starting to scrub.

"Yeah. It was the same accident that—" I was cut off as I leaned over the edge of the tub to throw up into the bucket. I sat back down in the tub, wiping my mouth, then continued, "that cause the radiation poisoning."

"You might have internal contamination then," she huffed, scrubbing at the wounds and making me cringe.

"Oh, I know I have internal contamination. The beam that fell on me, causing those and ripping my suit, also broke my gas mask," I told her, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead.

"That would have been nice to know," the nurse said, exasperated. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"There was an explosion at the nuclear weapons manufacturing facility. We were called in to investigate. I was walking down the hall when I tripped into a wall and caused the entire hallway to collapse on me. A beam hit my back, tearing my suit, and another hit the side of my head, breaking my mask. The manager of the plant gave me a regulator, but didn't have any spare suits. So Heero took me back to Preventers to get a new suit and mask, then took me here. That's it. Is this as bad as the symptoms are going to get?"

"No. The symptoms are nausea, vomiting, headaches, fatigue, weakness, high fever, hair loss—"

"Hair loss?" I exclaimed, running my hands through my long, chestnut hair.

"Yes. Also infections, bloody vomit, poor wound healing, dizziness, disorientation, low blood pressure, and in severe cases, death."

"Isn't mine a severe case?"

"Not as severe as it could be. We might be able to cure it."

"'Might' being the key word there," I sighed.

She nodded, moving down to my lower back. The door opened and a doctor wearing a long white coat walked in with a rather large needle.

"Is this our radiation poisoning patient?" he asked.

The nurse nodded and the doctor walked up to me, sticking the needle into my arm and drawing out a vile of blood. I shuddered and turned my head away. I felt tired and weak, like I could hardly keep myself upright. Leaning back against the metal tub, I let my eyes close.

"Wake up sleepy head. Bath is done. Get dressed and we'll take you back to your room," the nurse said, shaking my shoulders.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes with wet hands. She had already drained the water and had dried me off. I also found that I was wearing a pair of new boxers, which made me blush. When I tried to stand, I couldn't and fell back against the metal tub.

"Can you take him back? I need to get his blood work and get cleaned up around here," the nurse asked someone.

I turned to see Heero leaning against the back wall and I blushed deeper. He strode over and put a hand under my elbow, helping me stand. He helped me stand up and supported all my weight as he walked me back to the room. I noticed then that he was wearing hospital issue sweats and that his hair was damp.

He released me and helped me into the bed, then turned towards the door. I didn't want him to leave, though, for some unknown reason.

"Thanks," I told him, for lack of anything else to say.

"For what?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder.

"I dunno. For saving me I guess," I answered, sitting up so that I could braid my still damp hair.

He nodded, then opened the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked him, trying to keep him here.

"I need to go report the accident to Une," he answered simply as I dashed across the room and puked into the sink.

"That was lovely," I joked, looking over at Heero. Did I imagine the concerned look in his eyes?

He wiped it off his face quickly as I laid back in my bed, then he turned to leave.

"Wait, can you hand me a gown first? I feel… exposed," I frowned, crossing my arms over my bare chest.

He grabbed the gown from the counter and tossed at me, then left.

"And now he's gone," I grumbled, pulling on my gown.

The nurse then walked in as she scanned a chart. She had a frown on her face and seemed worried.

"So, your tests are back and… you have a radiation rating of seven gy," she told me.

"Oh, that doesn't sound so bad," I pointed out. It was only seven. That wasn't that bad, right?

"Well, uh… eight is fatal," she explained.

"Oh," I mouthed, laying my head back against the pillows.

"Well, we have a few options to try and treat this," she told me. She pulled out a large needle and a vial. "This is potassium iodide. It will try and absorb the radiation particles, then will be flushed out of your system with the radiation. Hopefully this will work," she said, hooking me up to an IV and then pumping the iodide into the tube.

I sighed, then leaned over the side of the bed and blood flowed out of my mouth and into the bucket the nurse had left there.

"That doesn't look right," I mumbled, wiping the blood from my mouth.

"All part of the symptoms," she explained. "Huh," she breathed, looking at the monitor. "You are starting to get a fever."

"I feel hot," I agreed, throwing off my covers.

"Well, if the iodide works, then all of these symptoms will go away. It might take a little while, though," she frowned.

I nodded and she left.

"And now I'm all alone. God I hate hospitals," I muttered to myself.

I closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep, but the headache and occasional bloody vomiting were preventing that from happening. So instead I thought over the case. If only I had the files…

The door opened and Quatre walked in with my laptop and a file.

"I thought you would like something to keep you entertained. Even if file work isn't all that entertaining," Quatre frowned. "So how bad is it?"

"Thanks Q-man. And it's seven gy radiation," I answered, taking my laptop from him, before shoving it back into his arms and puking into the bucket.

"That doesn't look good, but seven doesn't sound all that bad," Quatre pointed out.

"Eight is fatal," I told him and his face fell.

"So, you're… dieing?" he asked, his voice breaking.

"Well, they are trying to save me. They tell me I have a chance, though," I reassured him.

He nodded and handed me back my laptop. I started to take it, but then felt queasy.

"Actually… keep that. Give me the file instead," I told him.

I opened the file on my lap and scanned it. He continued to stand there, watching me.

"I have a few days, Quatre," I promised him with a grin. "You don't need to watch me."

"Sorry, I'll go now. I just wanted to see how you were doing," he murmured, turning to leave. "Oh, and do you know why Heero is hanging out in front of your room?"

"He's out there? What's he doing?" I asked him, sounding more interested than I should have.

"Uh, he's just sitting out there… doing nothing…"

"Just sitting there?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. It's not like he's doing anything. He's just sitting there. He looks kind of… worried? I don't know. It's hard to tell what he's feeling because he's never feeling anything. It looks like he's thinking about something."

He was worried? About me? No, it must be the case or something personal.

"Do you want to see him? I can ask him to come in…"

"No. If he wanted to come in, he would."

He nodded, then placed my laptop on the table next to me. "I'll be back to visit on my break. I'm sure you're bored out of your mind here, so hopefully I can keep you company," he smiled warmly.

"Thanks Q-man," I smiled back as he left.

I saw him talk to someone outside my room, then gesture to me. I frowned and turned my attention back to my file, pretending not to care that Heero stuck around. But I couldn't fight that feeling in my gut, happy that Heero might actually care about me.

Quatre left and an hour later found me with papers all over my lap, some stained with drops of blood, tapping a pen against my forehead. Things on the papers were scribbled out, highlighted, circled, and crossed off. Some of the photos were written on in sharpie and some of my notes were in crumpled balls on my lap and on the floor.

I felt my fever starting to pick up and I was definitely sweating a lot more than usual. Eventually, I started feeling faint, and like I was boiling. I shoved all the papers off my lap with one quick sweep, pulling off my gown and rolling onto my side. That's when the nurse walked in my room. Before she could even get all the way through the door, she was running towards me, cussing under her breath. I felt like I was about to faint. I couldn't keep my eyes open, and was so weak.

"What's going on?" Heero asked, running through the door right behind her.

"He has a temperature of 106. We need to get ice packs and cooling blankets in here now!" she shouted to some of the other nurses.

"No time," Heero told her strictly.

Suddenly he was ripping out my IVs and picking me up in his arms, running with me down the hall to the shower rooms. He flipped the water on cold and sat back against the wall, holding me against his chest and letting the ice cold water run over me. He wrapped one arm around my bare midsection, holding me to him, and with his free hand, he leaned my head back against his shoulder and gently brushed my wet bangs out of my face.

The emotions and feelings that coursed through me were all so unfamiliar. Having Heero this close to me made my heart flutter and my stomach clench. As the water started to cool my body down, I became more lucid. But I hid that from Heero, not wanting him to move. The silence became too much though, and I had to break it.

"I thought you had to go deal with Une," I reminded him.

"I did," he answered simply, his voice drained of emotion. But he did sound different, like he was trying to hide whatever emotions he was feeling.

"That was quick."

He was silent then. I tried again.

"Did you stay here the whole time?"

"I'm sure Quatre mentioned that to you," he brushed it off quickly, not wanting to explain.

"Why?"

"Just making sure you were okay," he told me, but then hurriedly added, "because I need to know whether or not to ask Une for a new partner. I'll be leaving soon, knowing that you are doing okay."

"I have a gy rating of seven," I told him. "Eight is fatal."

He froze. I looked up to see his clenched jaw and an almost angry expression on his face. And also… worry? Concern? I couldn't tell because it disappeared almost immediately. I leaned my head back into his shoulder, closing my eyes and letting the icy water wash over me.

"You didn't have to stay outside," I told him quietly.

He was silent and I opened my eyes to look at him. He was staring straight ahead at nothing, a blank expression on his face.

"Well… I think I should get back to my room. I feel better now," I told him, trying to stand.

I got to my feet, but then fell back into the wall, Heero putting a hand on my arm to help me keep my balance. I was still very weak though, and couldn't walk without my legs going out from under me. Heero flipped off the water then pulled me up into his arms, hurrying back to my room.

"Thank you," the nurse said as he placed my soaking wet body back in the bed. "But now you need to go take a shower and change again. He is still infected. And if you could refrain from any sort of skin to skin contact, that would be in your best interest. He's still contagious through touch."

Heero nodded, then left back towards the shower rooms without another word. I watched him leave, wondering what was going on with him. One minute he cared about me, and the other he seemed like he couldn't care less whether or not I kicked the bucket right then. I sighed deeply, wanting to know what was going through the head of the emotionless, perfect soldier.


	3. Chapter 3

**New chapter. Yay. Thanks for the reviews guys. They're much appreciated :) I think this is the second to last chapter... that makes me sad... And sorry about the no authors notes on the bottom. My computer is being stupid and wont let me put them. So i'll just say it up here. Hope you enjoy, and please review. Thanks for reading :)**  


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Chapter 3

The fever returned very shortly after and the nurse covered me with cooling blankets and ice packs, which had to be repositioned every time I leaned over the bed to dump blood in the bucket. I was extremely disoriented and dizzy, and was weak off and on. I could hardly hold my head up and was only able to lean over the bed to puke through reflexes.

Heero returned shortly after he had left, his hair wet and a laptop tucked under his arm. He sat down in the chair across the room from me and worked intently on his report.

"Any leads on the case?" I asked him in a weak, hoarse voice.

"No," he answered simply, not looking up from his computer.

"How long have I been here?" I asked him.

"A while."

"How long is a while?"

"Eight hours."

I nodded, not knowing what else to say. Then the nurse walked in to check my vitals and to see if the iodide was working.

"It's not working," she sighed, checking the monitors.

That's when Heero diverted his attention from his computer and looked up.

"So how long do I have before I kick the bucket?" I asked her, trying sound brave in front of Heero. I thought I saw Heero frown out of the corner of my eye.

"Don't give up Mr. Maxwell. We have a few more options."

"I know, but I'd still like to know in case nothing works."

"Any where from two days to three weeks from when you were exposed. But considering how fast your symptoms are progressing… about three to four days."

I nodded and the nurse pulled out another vile filled with a thick blue liquid.

"This is our next option. It's called Prussian Blue and it's a dye. It works the same way the iodide work, except it's much quicker," she explained, drawing out the liquid with a large syringe.

"Then why didn't you use it before?" Heero asked.

"Because we don't want this as our first option. The other doesn't have as many side effects as this does."

Heero nodded, but didn't look content with that answer. He kept his eyes on me as the nurse put the dye into my IV line.

"How long should it take for this to work?" I asked her, watching the dye run down the clear tube and into my arm.

"A few hours. Maybe six for it to work completely."

I exhaled sharply, then leaded over the bed to let the blood flow into the bucket.

"Can I get something to drink? That is so gross and leaves an aftertaste," I grimaced, wiping my mouth.

"Sorry, but you can't eat or drink anything with the dye in your system," the nurse apologized.

"Great," I grumbled, wiping my tongue and mouth on my gown.

"How is the fever?" she asked me, checking my monitor.

"I actually feel kind of cold," I shivered, pushing off the cooling blankets that weren't that cool anymore.

She folded them up and stuck them on the back counter, then left the room. Heero didn't return to his work though. He continued to watch me. I looked away, not wanting him to think I was watching him either. But I couldn't help glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. Eventually, he turned back to his computer and the comforting clicking noise filled the silent room.

I had almost managed to fall asleep after about an hour of trying when the doors opened and Une walked in.

"How are you Maxwell?" she asked in an all business tone.

I opened my mouth to crack some wise-ass joke, but my stomach heaved and I threw up a stomach full of blood into the bucket.

"Radiation poisoning sucks," I grumbled in response, wiping my mouth with my sleeve.

"How bad?"

"I'm dieing," I answered in a nonchalant voice.

"How the hell did you manage that? It was a simple investigation of an explosion!" she exhaled in exasperation.

Heero looked up, wanting to know the answer as well.

"I, uh… I tripped," I answered honestly, rubbing the back of my head.

"Damn it Maxwell!" she shook her head, then stormed towards the door.

She hesitated though, then turned to look at Heero.

"What are you doing here, Yuy?" she demanded.

"Working on the case with my partner," he answered simply.

"He's not your partner anymore. Come with me. We need to get you a new one," she ordered, opening the door.

"No," Heero retorted, his jaw clenched and his eyes full of anger.

"What?"

"Duo could pull through. He's my partner until he…"

"Till death do us part? How sweet, Heero," I mocked with a forced laugh. Something about that comment though made my stomach flutter.

Heero blushed slightly, but it was gone in a flash. "You're a valuable partner and I'm going to get as much information out of you as possible," he answered in his usual monotone. I could tell that wasn't really why he wanted to stay, but the real reason was unknown to me.

Une bought it though and nodded, leaving the room without another word. I turned to Heero.

"What's your real reason for staying?" I asked him.

"I just said my real reason."

"No, you pulled that excuse out of your ass. What's your real reason?"

He turned his attention back to his computer, completely shutting me off. I exhaled sharply, turning away from him.

"I don't have a reason," he suddenly answered.

"What?" I asked, turning back to face him.

"I don't know my reasons for wanting to stay."

"Oh," I breathed, looking down at my hands.

It was silent again, but this time it was uncomfortably silent. The silence was broken though, by my stomach heaving, causing me to puke blood into the bucket. I saw Heero's brow furrow as I leaned back and wiped my mouth. My chest suddenly felt tight and I tried to take a deep breath, but couldn't. I grasped at my chest, unable to pull air into my lungs.

"Heero…" I gasped. "I… can't… breathe."

He was up in a moment and jamming the red assistance button on my headboard. He held up my head as he pulled the pillows out from underneath me and laid me back flat. The nurses rushed in and pushed Heero out of the way. They checked my stats, then one put a mask on me and pumped air into my lungs.

"His body is fighting the dye. We need to flush it out of his system," one of the nurses told the others.

One nurse stuck a needle straight into my arm, pumping whatever drugs it contained into my body. It was another agonizing half an hour of having air forced into my lungs and nurses hovering over me before the dye was flushed from my system and I could start breathing on my own.

"We only have one more option," my nurse told me as all the others started to leave.

"Awesome. Bring it on," I said, trying to stay upbeat.

"It's **diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid. Or DTPA. It does the same as the others, but is just stronger."**

**"Does it have the bad side effects like the other one did?" Heero put in.**

**"Same as the others."**

**"How do you know he won't have the same reaction?" he pressed.**

**"Why do you care so much?" I asked him, turning to look at him. "You've never cared before. I'm just your partner. You're annoying, harebrained, clumsy—"**

**He cut me off by leaning in and pressing his lips to mine. My thoughts all left me. What I had been in the middle of saying completely left my mind. I was happy, but also completely shocked. Heero has feelings for me? I didn't care that it wasn't normal, I just savored it. But he cut it off far too soon.**

**"I do care," he told me.**

**"You idiot!" I found myself yelling him, suddenly remembering that I was still contagious. "You're not supposed to have any skin to skin contact with me. And I'm pretty sure making out with me falls under that category."**

**"It was worth it," he responded.**

**"Come with me," the nurse sighed, exasperated, grabbing the back of Heero's collar and dragging him towards the door. "You need to get your shots."**

**"Wait, will you come back?" I asked him, hoping he would.**

**"I'll bring him back. But if he touches you again, I'm restraining him," she promised with a glare at Heero.**

The door opened and she dragged Heero past a confused Quatre.

"What's going on?" he asked as he stepped into the room. "And why do you look so… happy?"

I blushed and just shook my head. "It's nothing."

"Okay," he allowed. "But seriously. You are… glowing, Duo. What just happened?"

I opened my mouth to dismiss it again, but was interrupted as I puked into the bucket. I suddenly felt weak. I could hardly hold my head up or keep my eyes open. The monitor started to beep faster and I felt faint. My chest started to hurt and the heart monitor continued to speed up as a cold sweat ran down my forehead. I started to cough and blood spotted my gown.

"What's going on?" Quatre asked as I weakly ripped off my gown.

"I… I feel hot," I complained.

"What do I do? It says you have a temperature of 104!" he worried as two nurses ran in and started to cover me with cooling blankets.

"The blankets aren't working!" one of them yelled.

"We need to get him into a tub now!"

Quatre grabbed me under my armpits and one of the nurses grabbed my legs and ran with me down the hall and into the same room that they had taken me to clean me. They lowered me into the cold metal tub and turned on the icy water. I welcomed the cold against my skin. One of the nurses dumped in bags of ice and it felt so good. I sunk down in the water so that it came just below my mouth and breathed in deep.

The door slammed open and Heero rushed in the room, a rubber strap still tied to his arm from when he was given his shots.

"What's going on?" he asked, turning to Quatre who was standing by the door.

"His fever spiked again," my nurse told him.

"So, does that mean the… the… whatever you gave him isn't working?" he asked, his tone and face not giving away any emotions he might've been feeling. I was starting to wonder whether or not that was actually Heero that had kissed me not a few minutes before.

"We just administered it. We need to give it a little while to work. But considering how badly he's deteriorating, we're giving him another dose," she responded, sticking a needle in my arm, then pulling my wrist out of the water so she could hook up an IV. I let that hand hang out of the tub, to weak to pull it back in.

Heero then stepped forward and kneeled next to my head. He reached out to take my hand but I pulled it away quickly.

"You aren't supposed to touch me," I warned.

He exhaled with a frown and I relaxed back into the chilling water.

"How are you feeling?" Heero asked me quietly.

"Well, I'm sitting in a tub full of ice water because I spiked a fever of 104, and—" I was cut of as I leaned over the opposite side of the tube and puked up blood. "And that," I grimaced, wiping the blood from my lips with the back of my hand, then letting it splash weakly back into the water.

Heero exhaled sharply and sat back on his butt, resting his chin on his knees. It was quiet as my body slowly started to cool and my headache subsided. After an hour, I felt myself begin to shiver and my teeth started to chatter.

"I-I think t-that I'm c-cool e-enough now," I stuttered.

"You need to stay in the tub until you're completely stabilized," my nurse told me as she checked my stats.

I shifted uncomfortably in the freezing water. I drew my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs, resting my chin on my knees. Shivers racked my body and I watched as the blue color spread up my fingers and toes.

"Y-You s-sure I'm s-supposed to s-stay in h-here? M-My b-balls are b-bout to-to f-freeze off," I shivered.

Quatre giggled and Heero shook his head.

"We think we have you stabilized for the most part, so we'll take you back to your room in a little bit."

"Do you know if the drugs are starting to work yet?" Heero asked.

"Do you have a headache still?" the nurse asked me.

I shook my head.

"How long has it been since you vomited?"

"B-Bout an h-hour."

"Are you feeling tired?"

"A-A little."

"Dizzy or disoriented?"

"Uh… k-kinda."

"Weak?"

"Y-Yeah. B-But not as m-much a-as before."

"This is good. You're symptoms are starting to fade. I'll run a blood test to see how much radiation is still in his system and whether or not he's still contagious," the nurse told us, drawing out another vile of blood and taking a swab of the inside of my mouth. "Once we get the results, we will move you back to your room."

I nodded and shivered, my teeth clattering. The shivers became painful as my muscles ached and shook. The nurse was taking forever and I started to get impatient. I watched the clock as the seconds slowly ticked by and I completely lost feeling in my hands and feet. Just as I was about to give up and jump out of the tub, the door opened and my nurse walked in carrying a few papers.

"Good news. Your gy rating has dropped to 5.5. You are still in the severe category, but it's definitely an improvement."


	4. Chapter 4

**So last chapter... sadly... It's actually really short. More of an eplogue really... Well, enjoy :)**

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Chapter 4

"T-Thank g-god," I exhaled, leaning my head back.

"Don't get too excited about this. You're chances of dieing are still a little higher than comfortable."

"I-Isn't any c-chance of d-dieing u-uncomfortable?" I joked.

"Yeah, I guess it is," she smiled.

"N-Now s-someone p-please help m-me out-t of t-this t-tub," I begged, trying to sit up.

"Is he still contagious?" Heero asked my nurse.

"No, but you should still—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Heero had helped me up and pulled me into him, his lips fusing to mine. His arms constricted around my waist and my arms seemed to have a will of their own as they wrapped around his neck. I heard Quatre gasp, then giggle.

Heero pulled back slowly. "I really do care about you. If it seemed like I didn't, it's because I was hiding it."

I smiled. "Good, because I feel the same way about you."

He smiled back, which was something I didn't see often from him. I could still feel his lips on mine, but all I could taste was blood, which made me frown.

"That couldn't have tasted very good," I grimaced, wiping my mouth.

"It was worth it."

"I'm going to advise you not to do that again, Mr. Yuy," my nurse said strictly.

"I thought you said he wasn't contagious anymore," Heero argued, turning to look at her.

"Yes, but I was also saying that you still need to be cautious. It's not just him being contagious, but it's also because he has a bad immune system and is very susceptible to infections and diseases. If you're carrying anything, he could very easily pick it up."

Heero frowned and released me. "Fine."

"You're all wet," I teased, looking down at his wet shirt.

"It was worth it," he repeated.

He pulled my arm over his shoulder and wrapped his other arm around my waist, helping me to my room. The nurse hooked up my IVs and Heero sat back in his corner with his laptop, switching modes completely.

"Any new information from Une?" Quatre asked, leaning over his shoulder to read the screen.

"Yes," Heero replied, sounding slightly irritated.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Quatre frowned.

"What is it?" I asked as the nurse gave me another dose of the acid.

"Trowa and WuFei just apprehended the guy that did it. It was an employee 'just having some fun'. Apparently he thought the bomb he stole wasn't nuclear. Baka," Heero responded as the nurse left.

"So, I'm dieing because some punkass guy wanted to freak out the plant staff?" I frowned.

"Yes," Quatre answered, his brow furrowing as he scanned the report.

"Damn."

"Tell me about it," Heero exhaled, closing his computer and looking up at me. "You alright?"

"I feel like shit, but I feel better than I did a few hours ago. At least I stopped puking," I grimaced.

Heero closed out the case, filling out his files. Just as he finished, setting down his laptop, my nurse entered the room. She walked over to me and took another vile of blood.

"I'm going to go test you again, check for improvements," she told me, then hurried out of the room again.

"Well I'm going to go catch up with Trowa and WuFei to see where they are with booking this guy. I'll also take the extent of your illness to the ADA and have her convict for attempted murder," Quatre said as he stood and made his way for the door.

Heero and I nodded, then he left, leaving us alone. Heero stood and sat in the chair next to my bed. He reached out and took my hand in his.

"If you die, I'll never forgive you," he whispered to me.

"If I die, I'll never forgive myself either," I responded with a small smile.

He leaned in and gave me a light kiss before sitting back and releasing my hand. We sat in a comfortable silence, only breaking it to talk about things involving the case. After a little while, Heero got a call from Quatre informing him that the case was officially closed and being handed off to our Assistant District Attorney. He also informed us that we our ADA was charging him with breaking and entering, activation of a nuclear weapon, destruction of federal property, attempted murder of an officer of the law, and murder of federal workers. Quite the price to pay for a simple joke.

Good news also came in the form of my nurse entering with a smile on her face.

"Your gy level is all the way down to 3.2. The drugs are working. You are no longer a severe case," she told me.

I sigh in relief.

"So what are his chances of dying now?" Heero asked her, his hand tightening around mine.

"Much smaller. He should be expected to make a full recovery," my nurse informed him with a smile. "We'll keep him here until the radiation is gone from his system, then he'll be released and ready to go back to Preventers."

I let out a shaky, relieved laugh. Heero leaned forward to hug me tightly, then pressed his lips firmly to mine.

I remained in the hospital over night and into the next morning. But, after my nurse ran one more test, it revealed that I was completely cured from the radiation. I was going to be fine. More than fine, I realized, as Heero and I walked out of the hospital hand in hand.

* * *

**So? What do you think? I know the ending is really... blah. Kinda rushed... but I wrote it like... months upon months after I had written the rest. All I had need was an ending so I just wrote one. Anyway, I don't really like it but oh well. Please review. And thanks to all those who have. And thanks for reading XD**

**I actually am on the verge or finishing another fic that's much much longer. So I'll post that when it's finished.**


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